"the french laundry has something of a checkered past. built in 1880 as a saloon, it was later turned into a brothel before finally gaining respectability as a french steam laundry in the 1920s. although it was first run as a restaurant in the 1970s, it wasn't until thomas keller bought the building in 1994 that it began to gain critical attention as one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world."
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